OSCE: RUSSIA NOT ALONE VIOLATING SPEECH FREEDOM

Only in 12 out of 55 OSCE member countries having over 1.1bn people, there have been no cases of speech and mass media freedom violation recorded. Those are the results of a survey conducted by the International Institute of Press prepared for the meeting of ISCE prime ministers to be held in Vienna on November 27-28. Among those countries are Andorra, Denmark, Iceland. Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Portugal, San-Marino, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Vatican. According to the IIP, as reported by ITAR-TASS, 27 journalists have been killed, 64 arrested, and 160 have undergone violence on the OSCE territory over the past 2 years. “It testifies to the fact that over 25 years passed since the signing of the Final Act of the Helsinki agreement, many decisions and resolutions adopted by the OSCE in the field of human rights, in particular, of ensuring speech and mass media freedom, have not so far been fully recognized and honoured by the majority of the member countries,” says the document.